Thursday, February 13, 2014

Finally...

Last year around April I began working in earnest on a screenplay that had been in my head for years. Years, I tell you. My writer friends will tell you about how maddening it is to walk around with an idea gnawing at you and you just can't figure out how to complete it. These stories play out in your head and you think, "That's it, I've figured it out after all of these years!" But then life interrupts and the work never gets done.

Or it gets interrupted.

Last year I was some 60 pages into this script and I came up with a new twist for the story. It was just a random "what if" I thought of that not only brought everything to a crashing halt, it froze me up for a good six months.

What did I do in the time while I tortured myself over not being able to complete this one script, a story I've been dying to tell for nearly a decade? I wrote a spec TV script, I wrote countless reviews, I tried to start a new column for Popdose, recorded a weekly podcast, I wrote 3/4s of ANOTHER screenplay, and of course, I tried to be a good father and husband.

When we came home from our holiday trip back east, I was in the shower one morning and the fog cleared. I realized that I had everything I needed to finish writing the original script, and I set off the finish what I'd started.

Today, I printed the first draft of the script. There was no better feeling than holding the 108 pages of my new screenplay.

Finally, a first draft is complete. Finally, I can say I've told my story (or at least started to, depending on how many revisions it goes through). Finally, I can take a deep breath.

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ABOUT THE BOOK

Basement songs hold a special place in our hearts. Decades may pass when suddenly one of these melodies begins playing, instantly reminding you of the time and place it first sank its hooks into your heart or into your soul. It doesn't matter if it was at work, in a car, on your friend’s radio, or in your parents’ basement. What does matter is the music and how it still affects you.

In this unique collection of essays, Scott Malchus explores the songs that influenced and guided him throughout the years: from his discovery of popular music as performed by a green felt puppet to the rock anthems played by a Journey cover band. In between, life-long friendships are forged, true love is found and adversity is met head-on. Each defining moment in his life married to a song and each song an anchor to an everlasting memory. Basement Songs is a journey full of heart, humor and above all, a love of music.

WHERE TO BUY THE BOOK

The paperback edition sells for $14.99 and is available through Lulu.com.

Kindle Edition

Currently selling for $2.99 on Amazon.

Nook.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

When not obsessing about the Cleveland Indians or Bruce Springsteen's next album, Scott Malchus writes screenplays, novels, comic books and the popular "Basement Songs" feature for POPDOSE.COM. In 2003, he wrote and directed the movie "King’s Highway" and in 2008 he co-wrote the Lifetime thriller, "Deceit."

Scott and his family live in the Los Angeles area where they are tirelessly involved with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and finding a cure for the disease. BASEMENT SONGS is his first book.